Martial Arts for Women in Colorado
Women-only classes, taught every week, in a room where starting from zero is the normal way to start. Learn real self-defense, get genuinely strong, and train with women who were beginners themselves not long ago.
Book a Free Class→Most women at Easton train in the regular classes, alongside everyone else. The women-only classes are an extra door — some people start there, some keep them as a standing part of the week, some never take one. All three are normal.
Self-Defense That Actually Works — and a Room You Want to Come Back To
Most women who walk into Easton are not looking to fight anybody. They want to feel capable — to know that if something went wrong, they would have something to fall back on besides hope. Martial arts give you that, but only the honest kind: technique that works when someone is bigger and stronger than you, drilled against a real person who is genuinely resisting.
That is what makes grappling and striking different from a fitness class that borrows the moves. You will also get the fitness — the conditioning, the strength, the coordination — but it arrives as a side effect of learning something real. And you will get it in a room with a coach who is watching, correcting, and keeping the intensity where it belongs.
Three Ways In
You do not have to pick correctly on day one. Every route below starts with a free class, and a coach will tell you honestly where you fit.
Prefer to train coed, or want more days on the mat than the women-only schedule offers? Every women’s class sits inside the full Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Kickboxing and Muay Thai programs, and your membership covers all of them at every academy.
A Real School, Not a Women’s Special
Easton Training Center has been Colorado’s martial arts home since 1998, founded by Amal Easton — a Renzo Gracie black belt — and grown into nine academies across the Front Range with over 100 black belts produced. The women’s classes are not a lighter version of that curriculum running in a side room. They are the same curriculum, taught by the same coaching staff, in a room that happens to be all women.
What the women-only format changes is the first few months. Learning to grapple means learning with your hands on another person, and a lot of women would rather do that first alongside other women. Once it stops feeling strange — and it does — most people add coed classes and never think about it again.
Where to Train
These Easton academies run women-only classes on the current schedule:
Every Women’s Class on the Schedule
Live from the class timetable — these are the women-only classes running right now at 5 Easton academies. Times update themselves, so what you see here is what is on the mat this week.
- Wednesday · 5:30 PMWomen's Muay Thai · with Ana Aristiguieta
- Sunday · 9:00 AMWomen's Jiu Jitsu · with Jessy Podoll
- Sunday · 9:30 AMWomen's Muay Thai · with Kate Silvester
- Saturday · 9:00 AMWomen's Jiu Jitsu · with Mallory Martin
- Sunday · 10:00 AMWomen's Muay Thai · with Kate Eischen
- Friday · 3:30 PMWomen's No Gi Jiu Jitsu · with Heather Bock
- Friday · 3:30 PMWomen's Jiu Jitsu · with Heather Bock
- Sunday · 10:00 AMWomen's Muay Thai · with Alea Benson Littlejohn
- Saturday · 10:00 AMWomen's Jiu Jitsu · with Jen Ritzke
- Saturday · 11:00 AMWomen's Jiu Jitsu · with Amy Fidelis
These are the women-only classes. Every other class on the schedule is open to you too.
Every Easton membership trains at every academy, so you are never limited to the one nearest you. See the full class schedule.
All-Women’s Mats, Since 2024
Twice a year or so, Easton clears a mat and brings women from every academy together to train — no spectators, no pressure, just a full room. Here is the record.
- Apr 18, 2026Two Packed Women’s BJJ Randoris
- Jun 21, 2025First All-Women’s BJJ Randori of 2025
- May 24, 2025Easton’s Third All-Women’s Muay Thai Sparring Day
- Dec 7, 2024All-Easton Women’s BJJ Randori
- Aug 10, 2024Easton’s Second All-Women’s Sparring Day
- Aug 3, 2024First All-Easton Women’s BJJ Randori
Meet the coaches behind the program.
Every Easton academy’s program is led by experienced coaches from one lineage.
Martial Arts for Women — Your Questions Answered
Everything people ask before their first class. Still unsure? Just show up — a coach will walk you through it.
I have never done anything like this. Is that actually okay?
Yes, and it is the norm rather than the exception. The women’s jiu-jitsu class is built on fundamental-level curriculum precisely because most of the room is newer, and the coach expects to teach you how to move, how to fall, and what the words mean. You are not going to be thrown in with anybody. Wear something you can move in, arrive fifteen minutes early, and the rest is handled.
What is the difference between a women's class and a regular class?
The curriculum and the coaching standard are identical — the difference is who is in the room. For a lot of women the first few months of a contact sport are easier to start alongside other women, and the women-only class exists to remove that as a reason not to begin. It is a starting point, not a separate track: your membership covers every class at every Easton academy, and most people end up training both.
Is this real self-defense, or a self-defense-flavored workout?
It is the real thing. Jiu-jitsu is built on leverage and technique rather than size and strength, which is exactly why it holds up when the other person is bigger than you, and it is trained against a partner who is genuinely resisting rather than cooperating. That is the difference between practicing a technique and knowing it works. The fitness comes too — it is just not the point.
Which Easton academies run women-only classes?
The list is on this page, in the class-times section above, and it comes straight from the live schedule rather than a page someone remembered to update. If an academy is not listed there, it is not currently running a women-only class — but every academy runs the full coed program, and your membership covers all nine.
Do I have to spar or compete?
No. Competing is encouraged at Easton but never required, and most members never do. Sparring is introduced gradually and always at a pace you set — in the beginner striking classes there is no partner contact at all. You decide how hard you want to train.
What should I bring to my first class?
Comfortable athletic clothing without zippers or pockets, a water bottle, and short nails. For jiu-jitsu we lend you a gi; for striking we provide loaner gloves and wraps. You do not need to buy any gear to try a class.
Try a Women’s Class, Risk-Free
Starting something new can feel intimidating — our team makes it easy from day one. Here’s exactly what happens:
- Book your orientation at a time that works.
- Get a free 30-minute one-on-one orientation for the program of your choice.
- Take a beginner class and drill with a friendly partner. No live sparring.
